TRESA member Michelle Henning re-imagines St Lukes Road
One of the few benefits of the lockdown is that it has enabled us to see familiar places differently.
I know the problems of St Lukes Road well, though I haven’t kept up with current debates. I lived on St Lukes Crescent for 12 years and used to cross the road from St Lukes Steps to Victoria Park, particularly difficult when my children were little. I have walked, cycled and driven the road. My cat was hit by a car on it. I still find walking through the tunnel at night a bit scary. As a driver, it can be worrying too, as the tunnel is narrow for two vehicles, and it is sometimes hard to see bikes as you emerge from the tunnel up into St Lukes Road. For the same reason, as a cyclist I used to find it challenging.
I am aware some of the problems with solutions proposed to the traffic: the concerns about bikes sharing space with pedestrians, particularly children walking to school with headphones on; the worries about one-way systems and lights and crossings exacerbating the morning traffic jams both on St Lukes Road and Wells Road. In lockdown, a new difficulty arrived – how to socially distance on narrow pavements without stepping out in the road and possibly getting hit by a car or a bike.
But with the trees now mature and in full leaf and the verge opposite it unmown, it has occurred to me that it the road has begun to look like it cuts through a park rather than runs alongside one. So, my proposal is to make the road part of the park.
This is something that could only be done with this park and this road – I looked at other parks in the city and there doesn’t seem to be another you could do this with. The idea is this: from Hill Avenue to the far side of the tunnel becomes officially part of Victoria Park, as does the grassy verge below St Lukes Crescent. Put gates, not normally closed, at each end. Signs would tell you that you are now entering Victoria Park. I am not proposing taking down the walls because it would still be a thoroughfare with a speed limit of 10mph and the walls prevent children and dogs from running out onto it.
Whether this is a thoroughfare with cars or just with bikes and pedestrians, is something that could be discussed, but it would remain 2-way. The road would need to be resurfaced to make it visually part of the park – I am imagining a yellow sandy-type surface, but how that would work on the slope down to the tunnel I am not sure. The surface should be rough and hostile to speeds above 10mph.
If cars were admitted, it would be much safer to cross the road at any point. The whole thing would be made to feel like a park: this is psychologically very important since drivers must feel they have gone “off-road”. Uncertainty helps calm traffic – the space you enter doesn’t look and feel like a normal road – and, without road markings, motorists apparently drive more cautiously. You can’t just have psychological techniques, you need to change the road surfaces, pavements and so on, but that can be environmentally sympathetic and aesthetic – no need for humps, chicanes and one-way systems (see the discussion of ‘naked streets’ in this UK government report from 2010 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiGt8Xuw4LqAhWOSxUIHeiMDOwQFjARegQICBAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fresearchbriefings.files.parliament.uk%2Fdocuments%2FSN03437%2FSN03437.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1CHPRKoZWS7XFZlFbfGptn).
As a short-cut, even a scenic one, it would be less appealing to through-traffic as it would add a couple of minutes on to journeys, but it would also be possible to close the gates to cars at certain times.
Alternatively, you could just prevent all cars from entering – which would prevent people from driving from Hill Ave and Windsor Terrace direct to York road, but not to St John’s Lane. If cars are not admitted, or gates are used to filter at certain times, it doesn’t necessarily mean the traffic will just clog up somewhere else (for example, the Wells Road). I found a report by an organisation called Living Streets which says that there is evidence of ‘traffic evaporation’, meaning that drivers change their habits and the congestion isn’t all displaced onto bigger roads as you might expect – 15% of it disappears altogether. Living Streets has information on low traffic neighbourhoods (https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/policy-and-resources/our-policy/walkable-neighbourhoods).
I have also tried to find examples of places where roads have been turned into parks: there are some in Melbourne, Australia, (https://architectureau.com/articles/converting-roads-to-parks/ and https://www.foreground.com.au/parks-places/roads-to-parks-for-people/) and I have seen park-like spaces made out of road in Walthamstow London (https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/public-space-improvements-walthamstow-village), which is one of the examples Living Streets refers to. In New York, the High Line (railway line) has been turned into a beautiful walking space. Without cars, and with slowed cyclists, you can make the road area lovely, with removal of pavements, resurfacing and imaginative planting. Greening the road will improve air quality and wildlife too.
If cars are removed altogether, I have tried to imagine how it will affect local residents. When I lived in St Luke’s Crescent I would have driven to Southville, the city centre and Temple Meads that way, but I could go to all those places via St John’s Lane (since the top of St Luke’s Road would still be open). I currently live in Knowle Road and I think residents from Knowle Road, Winton Street and Bushy Park probably use St Lukes Road to drive through because you cannot turn right onto St Johns Lane from there, but are filtered down to the St Lukes roundabout. So I would suggest introducing a right turn there. Of course, it will be a slight inconvenience for local residents, which is another reason for turning the road into park – to make the neighbourhood more beautiful and enjoyable in return. You could hold markets on what is now the road. How to make the tunnel lovely is a challenge I haven’t quite figured out yet!
I am sure there are lots of hitches that I haven’t thought of: it needs a ‘hive brain’ to think through all possibilities. For example, without any cars, is the road and especially the tunnel more dangerous for late-night pedestrians? How do you keep the walls and still make it feel part of the park? How do you ensure traffic does not break the speed limit of 10mph? There are roads I haven’t lived in, and routes I haven’t travelled, that you might have done, and disabled people in particular might need to drive that bit of road and not an alternative route.
I have put the ‘without cars’ option into the local planning map at https://bristol.citizenspace.com/management-of-place/bristol-covid-19-transport-request-form/ – please find it and click on the heart if you like it. I wanted to put the ‘with cars’ option in, but for some reason (even with five tries) the form just responds with ‘Values could not be submitted’. I will try again but if anyone else likes the idea – please do put ‘Turn St Lukes Road into Part of the Park’ on the map!
Michelle Henning
If you have any comments about this idea, please send them to: hello@tresa.org.uk